Iced Darkness
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Jackie was Jack's opposite in every way. He was fun, she was cold. He liked people and wished to be seen, she wanted to disappear and be left alone except for Jack. However Pitch is back, and his presence will cause the Guardians to learn of Jackie's true origins...and force her to confront the very being who made her into an ice woman. Jack/Jackie (FEM HARRY)
1. Chapter 1

Jack Frost, spirit of Winter, was confused. He had come to England to bring the usual winter's chill and had instead found a new fledgling spirit...a female one at that.

The girl had snow white hair and the most amazing emerald green eyes he had ever seen. She was also sad. So very sad and angry. Her very presence bolstered his own natural powers over Winter.

When he first found her, she was crying all alone in the forest next to what he thought was a grave of sorts. It belonged to an animal, that much he could tell, one aligned to winter.

Jack had held her gently, unsure if she would go through (she didn't and clung to him like a lifeline) and they had been together ever since.

Her name...was Jackie. Or it was a nickname.

When he ran into the Bunny, he learned something important about her. Because there was already a spirit of winter (I/E Jack) the girl couldn't take his place. So she had become the next best thing...a Koorime, or ice maiden. She was a companion to Jack's powers, though unlike him her nature was much darker compared to his fun and lighthearted one.

She also hated England with a passion. He quit bringing her with him to the country when he found out she was responsible for a terrible curse placed on the magical castle in Scotland, and the reason why there had been a rash of deaths among the more inbred magicals. Thankfully the curse spared anyone under the age of fourteen.

Jack had to wonder though...just what had magical England done to Jackie for her to place such a terrible curse on them and kill all those people, even without her direct influence?

* * *

Jackie was happy. And it was a feeling she would defend to her last breath. Being around Jack lifted her spirits in a way she couldn't describe, like she knew that she would never be alone ever again.

And she had been so very alone when he found her.

She couldn't remember why she was in that glen, though it had become a sacred place to her. Where everything had ended and began anew.

The one thing she could remember was that she hated England and all the inbred 'pure bloods' in it. Every time she saw a pure blood teaching their children to hate those who were new bloods, her powers rose to the surface. Jack had learned to avoid taking her to those areas unless he wanted her to do something she wouldn't regret.

Jack understood her, to a point. Where his loneliness was due to the fact no one believed (ergo couldn't see him), Jackie had spent most if not all of her human life in isolation, despite the fact people _could_ see her. She had a need for human contact, yet she was denied even that basic human right.

It was the reason why she had become a spirit in the first place. At least what she could remember before she became a spirit.

So in exchange for helping Jack with his work, he took her with him all over the world to see new sights. It was a much more bearable existence for the both of them. They weren't so lonely anymore.

* * *

_He watched with cold, cruel eyes. His little joke on the magicals had reaped unexpected benefits. And that fool boy killing her pet had been the tipping point...now he had plenty of room to work with in England, making them fear the dark again._

_However there was a bit of a problem. The children now feared the winter's touch more than they feared the dark nature of his pawn._

_Evergreen Potter had done too good a job when she finally snapped. Her ongoing revenge on Dumbledore and his people had only made them fear her curse more than his darkness._

_Still, it did give him more room to maneuver. The girl's soul was so steeped in darkness that it would only take the slightest touch to push her to the edge and turn her into his own companion. The darker half of Frost's powers and his own control over darkness and fear... the mere idea of such a combination made his salivate._

_Though having them both would definitely make destroying the Guardians infinitely easier._

* * *

Jack pouted when the kid he had just given a ride using his ice powers started talking about Tooth. He was the one who gave this kid a real story to remember later... why did Tooth get the credit for his fun?

"Sulking again Jack?" asked Jackie amused, floating on her icy broom. Unlike Jack she didn't have something to channel most of her powers through, so she had to make do. It was easier to fly if she made a broom, or if she really wanted to go fast, a pair of wings.

"I go through all that trouble to have fun, and who gets the credit? The Guardians," said Jack unhappily.

Jackie hugged him.

They had never figured out what their relationship was, as it was too fluid. He was more than a boyfriend to her...he was like a big brother, her partner, and her truest friend all rolled into one. Neither of them knew how to move their companionship to the next level, and both were too afraid to ruin things to try. That didn't mean that they couldn't hold hands though.

Jack sat on the roof's edge annoyed. It just wasn't fair! Why did the Guardians get all the credit for the stuff he did?

"Come on, I know a place that has those snow cone flavors you love so much," said Jackie.

Jack perked up at that.

Since Jackie was a koorime, she didn't exactly _need_ belief to be seen, and she made a mean snow cone.

Icy treat in hand, Jack and Jackie watched the human he had played with describe the adventure to his little sister and mother. Jack's bad mood went away when he realized the kid did appreciate the ride, he just didn't know that it had been Jack's doing.

"Here comes the dream sand," said Jackie sadly.

Jack didn't know why Jackie always felt sad when she saw the golden sand. Though he had the feeling it had something to do with the owl that always showed up when she touched it.

The two of them walked along the power lines out of boredom when a shadow jumped across their path. Jackie recognized the magical signature of Bunny, the spirit of Easter, and what felt like the taste of North's portal magic.

* * *

Jackie was growling when she and Jack were captured by the yetis...Jack loved to try and break into North's workshop, but she could care less. Something about Christmas just left a sour taste in her mouth.

Hearing why they had brought Jack (apparently they just wanted him) her growl grew louder.

"That's why you abducted us? You want to make Jack a Guardian like you fools?" she snarled.

All this time they had outright _ignored_ him, even shunned him and suddenly they needed his help? She wasn't buying it.

"Nobody asked you snow woman," said Bunny.

"Like I'm going to be afraid of the Easter Kangaroo," she shot back.

"That's bunny!" he growled.

"Your ability to stand upright says _otherwise_," she snarked coldly.

"Tooth! Fingers out of mouth," North said warningly.

Jackie glared at the Tooth Fairy. She had better not be making moves on Jack.

Feeling a light tug on her arm, she looked down and found Sandy looking at her with concern.

"What?" she said irritably.

Sandy made a picture above his head. She reeled back as if he had struck her openly.

It was a snow owl made of dream sand.

"Stay away from me," she hissed at him.

"Why did you bring both of us here anyway?"

"Man in Moon said you two are to be the next Guardians," said North.

"And the fact I could care less about children...?" she said with a drawl.

"Don't be like that Jackie. Even I know that while you hate magicals for some reason you've never gone after children," said Jack.

"Taint like magicals aren't born, they're created," said Jackie angrily. It was well known among the spirits that Jack's sole companion hated magicals, possibly for the same reason she had become a spirit in the first place.

"Speaking of magicals, why has your curse not broken?" asked North. It was a total hassle getting the presents to the children inside Hogwarts, and it worried him that they openly feared the touch of winter's chill now. Christmas was supposed to be celebrated, not openly feared.

Jackie's emerald green eyes glared at North.

"My curse on Hogwarts and the magicals will never disappear until they atone for their sins. I don't care if they fear me for a hundred years, my rage towards the filth that runs that horrible castle will never die down until my revenge is felt," she spat.

North was openly worried now. Why had Manny chosen someone so angry towards humans for a Guardian?

* * *

_She felt like something terrible had happened. She raced to the Owlry where the feeling had come from. The sight that greeted her in the door made her heart stop._

_Her beloved owl was dead. Cut down by a spell and left lying on the cold floor._

_Her howl of anguish drew every teacher in the castle, and it took three professors to get her to let go of her only real friend in the world. It was Malfoy's smug look that told her everything she needed to know about who had done this horrible deed._

_He had killed her owl, and he was enjoying her pain._

_Something inside of her turned red hot, before it froze over. Her heart, which had been in pain since the death of her godfather, became as cold as winter's touch. _

_Ever since the death of her owl, she had become as cold as ice towards everyone. Her friends, who couldn't understand why she was so devastated at the loss of her pet, failed to realize that something was very wrong._

_She had become more than a witch with an open grudge...she had started the transformation from human to ice woman. Once she finally snapped, the rest would take care of itself and she would no longer be considered alive, but a wraith who's only thought was of revenge against those who had wronged her._

_Her emerald green eyes were as cold as the floor upon which she sat when she found her owl's broken body._


	2. Chapter 2

Pitch smirked as he had his Nightmares steal the tooth fairies and the teeth. Really, dragging the ice woman along with her better half was making his job far too easy. She acknowledged her center, but unlike Jack she didn't have any good memories to associate her childhood with. He looked at the container in his hand with an open smile.

All it would take was a single touch, and Jackie would remember another part of her horrid childhood. Who knew that fake prophecy would bring him this much entertainment?

Sensing North's approach, his smirk widened. It was about time to give the 'Guardians' a good scare.

If they knew how quickly he could turn Frost against them, simply by using his little girlfriend...well, they would be less inclined to bring him into their little group.

* * *

Jackie had a familiar feeling. This...this was exactly like the day that started her change. That horrible day when everything went so wrong so quickly. She shivered.

Jack noticed immediately. Jackie was a spirit of cold, so that couldn't be why she suddenly acted like she felt the wind chill.

"What's wrong?"

"Something...something horrible is up ahead. Something that would ruin me. I've felt this before," she said quietly.

"What do you mean you've felt this before?" asked Bunny.

"There's something up ahead that I've sensed before. Back when I was still human. I had this same sensation when..." said Jackie. Her eyes scrunched up as if trying to remember, but her mind kept the block firmly in place.

Sandy, however, was fully aware of who Jackie had been. His eyes narrowed. He made a few pictures above his head and Bunny translated.

"Pitch? She's been in contact with Pitch Black before?" asked Bunny.

Sandy shook his head. He made another series of pictures.

"Pitch Black is why she's an ice spirit?" asked Bunny.

Sandy nodded.

"What do you mean Pitch is why Jackie's an ice woman?" asked Jack.

Sandy tried to tell Jack, but it was too soon. Jackie had blocked her memories because she had no other choice if she wanted to remain sane. If she remembered her past, then there was no telling if she would even help protect the children.

"Wait, you knew Jackie when she was alive?" asked Jack.

Sandy nodded.

"So what was she like?" asked Jack.

Sandy thought long and hard, before he made a picture of a lioness roaring and protecting her cubs, and a picture of an eagle soaring freely.

"So she was protective and brave, and she loved flying?" asked Jack. He already knew that much about her. She read the winds better than he did!

They came up on Tooth's Palace, and Jack managed to rescue a baby tooth.

Tooth was pretty distraught over the fact Pitch had been kidnapping her fairies. She almost punched him if it hadn't been for his nightmare.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? The Guardians all in once place and... Is that Jackie and Jack Frost? Where did you drag them out of?" he sneered.

Jackie shivered. That horrible feeling from before was getting worse now. Jack took her hand into his, letting his strength feed into her own. There were times Jackie nearly became a spirit of darkness, and in those moments he honestly feared for her. It was during those times that he realized he had to avoid going to England if she was with him. It more or less only happened around there.

Pitch sneered at Jackie.

"Did you know that the children of Europe actually have a _rhyme_ about you?" he smirked.

"What?" asked Jackie bewildered.

Pitch's laugh echoed mockingly as he sang the now infamous rhyme for the winter spirit who had cursed Europe in a horrible parody of a child's voice.

"_One, two, Jackie's coming for you._

_Three, four, better lock those doors._

_Five, six, grab your magic sticks._

_Seven, eight, avoid the lake._

_Nine, ten, never wake again..."_

Jackie looked shocked. She wasn't aware that the magicals had bothered to make a nursery rhyme about her curse! Jack squeezed her hand.

North was angry. He had hoped to _avoid_ letting Jackie hear about the nursery rhyme of the vengeful ice woman. The more Jackie knew about how feared she was in Europe, the bigger the chance she would fall into darkness like Pitch.

"And of course we can't forget about _these_..." said Pitch with a sneer.

Tooth gasped as she realized he had a container for the teeth of a child, but more than that they belonged to a magical one. Those always held more power than the average one.

Sandy looked openly panicked, because he _recognized_ who those teeth belonged to. This was very, very bad.

Seeing the sheer panic on the Sandman's face was enough for Pitch to openly laugh at them. Only he was aware of who Jackie Frost had been when she was alive, or how bad her childhood had been. He went to brush against the container very lightly, to bring back one of her worst childhood torments, but found himself avoiding her attacks instead.

Jackie knew that letting Pitch have that container was a bad idea, though she was unaware of why.

Pitch's eyes narrowed. Jackie's mind had blocked her human self for a reason. Yet here she was trying _not_ to remember who she was. That wouldn't do, not for his plans.

He dove down and vanished into his private area. It wouldn't do for the Guardians to get their hands on this particular set of teeth. He could always lure Jack in by promising to give him back his memories.

* * *

Bunny was irritated. There was something off about Jackie, and Sandy certainly wasn't helping with the fact he was actually _panicking_ for a change.

"Spill Sandy! Why did that one container cause you to be in such a state?" asked Bunny.

Sandman pointed at Jackie who had her back turned and was next to Jack before he made a picture of a tree.

"What about a tree?" asked Bunny, not getting it. Sandy pointed furiously at Jackie and again at the tree.

"North, do you understand what he's saying?" asked Bunny irritably.

North blinked, before Sandy pointed at Jackie and then at the tree. He had seen such trees before, evergreens if he remembered right. They tended to thrive in cold, harsh climates.

"Why does an evergreen matter?" asked North.

Sandy huffed, before he pointed at the tree once more then at Jackie who was curious what the three of them were talking about. She went back to ignoring them.

"An evergreen?" asked Bunny.

Sandy face-palmed, before he tried another tactic. He made a picture of Jackie, then an equal sign, before making another evergreen tree.

North and Bunny didn't get it.

Jack wandered over to where they were, before he saw the odd sequence repeat itself.

"Jackie is evergreen? What does that mean?" asked Jack highly confused.

Jackie's sudden yelp of pain drew his immediate attention, and he almost forgot the odd thing Sandy was trying to tell them. Why would he call Jackie an evergreen?

* * *

_She could feel her icy rage building up. After the teachers collected the odd stones which they had found around her, she had decided to bury them with her beloved owl._

_A few days later one of her few remaining actual friends spoke to her. She could tell from his expression that what he had to say wasn't good._

"_I saw Ron and Ginny going into the forest earlier...and I noticed they both had frozen mud on their shoes and on their pants. I don't know what they wanted in the forest, but I felt you should know after..."_

_Her eyes grew frosty. They wouldn't._

_Later that night she went into the forest and to the glen where she had buried her pet. It was far from the beaten track Hagrid favored and near enough the Acromantula colony that most people would avoid the area. She had seen a few unicorns hanging around here though._

_She cried in anger and pain when she realized that the area where her friend's grave was had been dug up recently...and poorly covered. What if a wolf had found her body? _

_It took a few moments of careful observation to realize that the odd stones which had been in the room had been removed, though thankfully her pet's body was still intact. She covered the grave properly and felt her rage grow even more._

_Why had someone removed the stones? They didn't look like anything worth stealing when she had buried them!_

_Later she came across a book her former friend had left lying around about Hiruiseki stones. Apparently they were so rare that even a small one could net you a million galleons._

_Seeing a picture of the stone, she realized that they looked exactly like the things the teachers had found. Were Ron and Ginny so desperate for money that they were willing to desecrate her pet's grave just to get it?_

_Seeing Ginny's smirk later when she saw the picture in the book, she felt her icy rage building up to levels she had never imagined were possible._

_So they had done this deliberately just to make some easy money. They would have to pay for this. They would all have to pay._


	3. Chapter 3

Jackie didn't know why, but the name evergreen made her head hurt painfully.

Like it was a name she desperately wanted to forget. She was Jackie Frost, not a tree. As the Guardians agreed to collect the teeth in place of Tooth's army of fairies, she felt a headache coming on.

"You alright Jackie? You don't look so good," asked Jack in honest concern.

"I'm fine. Just have a headache that refuses to die," she said quietly. Jack grew even more worried. The last time she was like this, she had nearly started a month long blizzard. Jack went to talk to North.

"Is there anyway Jackie could rest in the Workshop?" he asked quietly.

"What is wrong?" asked North.

"I'm worried about her... she's really pale even for her and I have the feeling that the tree Sandy was showing her is the reason why. Unlike me she's never tried to find her purpose...she prefers to just be around me all the time."

Sandy overheard the conversation and spoke using his dream sand. Keeping Jackie far away from Pitch was a better idea than letting her help at the moment. If she remembered what happened she could very well level the Guardians.

"I'll let yetis know she is allowed to stay. Perhaps she will enjoy library," said North.

"You have a library in your workshop?" said Jack incredulous.

"Of course I have library! How else you think I keep all the children straight?" said North.

Sandy made an odd comment.

"What do you mean she should avoid the English section?" asked Jack.

Sandy pointed at Jackie and created a rough estimate of England.

"Oh, that. Yeah, I suppose she should avoid the European section. I still don't understand why she hates England and Scotland so much," said Jack.

Jackie agreed to stay in the workshop until needed, unaware of what Pitch had in mind.

She was reading a first edition copy of _Lord of the Rings_ when they came back. They were missing one Guardian though.

"What happened?"

"Pitch...he absorbed Sandy," said Jack.

"Oh for the love of MiM! Don't tell me you lot actually believe Sandy is dead!" she said irate.

"What?" asked North.

Jackie rolled her eyes.

"Pitch, despite having control over Nightmare Sand, is not attuned to Sandy's power over dreams. He can _corrupt_ them, but he can't outright control them. It would take a few days for him to fully integrate the powers of the Sandman. Which means you lot have a very small window of opportunity to bolster the power of belief in the children before Sandy is gone completely. If you can give him enough belief, then he should be able to break free," explained Jackie.

"How do you know that?" asked Bunny angrily. Jackie had always rubbed him the wrong way, mostly because of the curse that still lingered over Europe. It was getting harder and harder to bring spring in time with that blasted thing!

"Belief is powerful, especially for spirits like you Guardians. Pitch can't garner any real belief from the magicals right now because they're more concerned about me showing up. Which means you have a limited amount of leeway before he finds a way to overcome their fear of me and turn it into his own power," she said annoyed.

She had always wondered why she had more power than Jack did, or why people could see her and not Jack. Learning she had become a nursery rhyme of warning for the magicals all over the world had solved that particular mystery. It was an odd parody of the rhyme used in a certain horror franchise that involved dreams, likely why Pitch even knew of it.

Because she was naturally aligned to ice _and_ darkness, the power of fear gave her enough strength to match the belief that powered the Guardians.

As Pitch's power over children grew, so did her affinity towards the dark element of magic.

She wasn't exactly _pleased_ that her darker powers were growing.

* * *

Jack wondered why the Guardians were so wary of Jackie. It wasn't like she was evil, she just had a bad hand dealt to her. Jackie was really nice once you got to know her properly, though her humor occasionally needed some work.

Bored, he went looking through the library in North's workshop while they argued on how to bring back the children's belief. He went into the European section as a lark.

His hands brushed against the spines of the books before one caught his hands. Unlike the others, this one was filled with almost all darkness and pain. He picked it out of the shelf...it was fairly recent, and according to the dates the witch in question should have been in her early twenties at least.

It was the name that caught his full attention though.

_Evergreen Liliana Potter_.

Evergreen...that was the name of the tree Sandy kept pointing at when he was trying to warn them about Jackie. And right before he was taken he had shown a picture of a large potted plant. Upon further reflection he realized it had been a lily of some sort.

He couldn't have been trying to warn Jack about his friend...right?

He opened the middle of the book...and very nearly dropped it in shock.

There, staring back at him was an ebony haired version of Jackie. She looked more resigned than sad and angry like she usually was whenever England or it's magical community was brought up.

Jack sat down and began to read. He was hoping that he was wrong about his suspicions, but it only grew worse the longer he went into the book.

Evergreen had a tough life. She had lost her parents on Halloween, her godfather shortly before Easter, and her owl right before Christmas. Jack's mind flew to the owl that always showed up whenever Jackie touched dream sand... this Hedwig was an identical copy to that bird.

When he got to the point where Hedwig had died, Bunny was coming in.

"Where'd you find that one?" he asked annoyed. Jackie had been going at him for over an hour now.

"On the shelf. Bunny, does the name Evergreen Potter mean anything to you?"

"Potter? I remember there being something about a girl in England who never seemed to actually enjoy my egg hunts, but I can't say it rings a bell," said Bunny.

Jack felt a bad feeling take hold. The Guardian's prided themselves on remembering children, especially the bad cases like Potter was. He had to find out if he was right.

He discreetly asked the same question of Tooth and North. Neither of them knew the girl at all, which was beyond strange because North had a very good memory.

Jack looked at his friend who was playing with the yeti by throwing a few random snowballs at any who looked busy.

Was it possible that something had tampered with the Guardians?

"What's up Jack?" asked Jackie.

"Nothing. Just a bad feeling," he said. He couldn't lie to her. If he was right she had been lied to her entire life and he had the feeling that it was all Pitch's fault. Sandy had said Pitch was the reason why she had become a spirit.

* * *

Pitch smirked. It was only a little longer before he could snag Jack Frost. It would take very little for the Guardians to turn on him, especially since Jackie was growing stronger while they grew weaker.

Hiding her from the Guardian's had been far too easy. A child needed belief in order to give them power, yet they never suspected that one had been missed at all. Feeling the Guardians in the warren, Pitch prepared to use Jack's own teeth against him. This would be fun.

Jack heard a voice in the wind. Someone was calling him. Someone familiar. He looked back at Sophie, but the voice was compelling.

Then a thought occurred to him. Was Pitch deliberately trying to lure him in?

This was the perfect time to find out if Pitch had done something to Jackie. He followed the voice, deep, deeper into the earth.

He found himself in a cave full of the missing teeth and the fairies bound by cages. Seeing Pitch, Jack's eyes narrowed.

"What did you do?" he demanded.

"I think the better question you should be asking Jack...is what did you do?" sneered Pitch, tossing him his teeth. He still had Jackie's. Brushing up against it lightly he grinned cruelly as he felt her pain flare.

* * *

_Malfoy sneered at her, enjoying her agony. The Dark Lord was pleased when he heard what a blow he had dealt the girl. Seeing her, he was about to taunt her again about the death of her bird when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Looking down he found that there was a massive wedge of ice where his navel was._

_He was bleeding to death on the cold stone floor as Potter watched his rapidly cooling corpse dispassionately. This wasn't enough to sate her growing rage, but it was a fine start. She branded Malfoy with the image of a snow owl, flying free, to insure everyone knew that she had done this._

_A few days and a very unsurprised investigation later, and the Aurors arrived to arrest her._

_Potter looked at them with a frozen gaze, her magic rising in response to her growing fury. Outside, a blizzard began to form._

"_No."_

_That single word held more power than any spell. She took out her wand, and to the shocked gaze of the other students, proceeded to snap it into so many pieces that it would be impossible to fix._

_She turned to face a disappointed headmaster._

"_This is your fault. I lay this curse at your feet, Albus Dumbledore. For every year I spent in this waking hell, I curse this society to a never ending nightmare. For every winter that graces these shores, I shall curse every magical to a cold heartless death. May the icy touch of my revenge never end so long as you and these sheep you seek to rule live."_

_With that, the raging blizzard struck hard and fast, shattered the glass with a subarctic touch. She walked out into the raging storm and to the glen where she laid against the tree. She stared at the remains of her only true friend and cried the last tears she would ever feel as a human._


	4. Chapter 4

Jack felt betrayed by the Guardians, who didn't seem to believe him when he said that he had nothing to do with Pitch ruining Easter. Jackie didn't care either way, her existence wasn't tied to children.

Bunny glared at her though. Her cry of pain had distracted them at the worst possible time, and he fully believed if she had stayed in North's workshop they might have been able to protect the eggs.

Jack, however, wasn't having any of that.

"It's not her fault! Pitch is to blame for all of this!"

"Like you would know, traitor!" said Bunny. He didn't want either of the winter spirits to be Guardians. As the spirit of Spring he disliked them on principle.

Jack's temper flared. He wasn't going to let some jumped up Kangaroo call him a traitor.

"This coming from a Guardian who couldn't even do his own job right?" he shot back.

"What do you mean Jack?" asked Tooth, shocked at the accusation.

"Remember about the witch I asked about before we came to the Warren?"

"The little girl in England. What of her?"

"All of you missed her. Try reading her book if you don't believe me!" said Jack angrily. Jackie reached for his hand, and he squeezed it tightly.

He wasn't going to let her be alone. Not after what he had found out.

The two winter spirits vanished in a snow flurry, as Jack was too angry to be near them right now. Jackie didn't like them much to begin with, so she was a scant second behind him.

* * *

North wondered why Jack had made such a nasty comment, and they went to the Workshop to find Evergreen Potter.

It was a cold slap to the face when they found the book Jack hadn't finished reading, still laying open.

"How? How could we have missed something like this?" asked Tooth absolutely horrified.

They had found Evergreen Potter, and suddenly a lot of things clicked into place.

Jackie Frost, someone too close to Jack to be a mere companion, had been the savior of an entire magical community. And they had missed all the evidence she had been abused, neglected and shunned.

The fact they had failed so horribly as Guardians was something they would never live down.

"I can't believe I didn't see this. I used to watch this girl hang to the side while her fat oaf of a cousin got all of my eggs..." said Bunny. He felt ashamed that he had treated Jackie like a plague. Out of all of them, he had seen this girl the most and he had missed the connection Sandy had tried to warn them about.

North looked very unhappy. He could remember clearly now the little girl who never got a single thing for Christmas...no wonder she hadn't been very thrilled to finally get into his Workshop. Or why she kept harassing his yetis.

"How could I have missed that container! Sandy knew who it belonged to before any of us did!" said Tooth miserably.

"Wait...didn't Frostbite only have one of those containers on him?" said Bunny suddenly.

"He only had his own," said North, remembered the one in Jack's hands before they left.

"So that means... Oh no!" said Tooth.

"Pitch can turn her against us at any time. He's just playing with her," said Bunny grimly.

* * *

Jack was holding his friend in the arctic. This was their safe area, a place where their power was at it's strongest. Not even North could challenge them here.

Jackie was shaking like a leaf. The memories were threatening to overwhelm her. The pain was too strong for her to handle without help.

"Well isn't this a cute picture," sneered Pitch.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Jack.

Pitch dragged one of his long fingers along the container. Jackie screamed from the pain that threatened to drag her into her own nightmare. He smirked as Jack looked torn between helping his friend and attacking Pitch. He launched a large blast of winter's cold and Pitch retaliated with his darkness.

Jackie's eyes became unfocused. Something was niggling at the back of her mind. The longer she stared at the abyss, the more it stared back at her.

She couldn't hear Jack or Pitch speak, but something brushed against her memories.

This feeling. Why did Pitch feel so familiar...and it wasn't a good familiar either.

Pitch used the container again. She went past the pain, she had too much experience looking past such feelings, and sought the information she needed.

Suddenly her eyes cleared and rage was evident on them.

"You. It was you," she hissed.

Pitch. He was the one who powered Voldemort. Who had been present during that horrible prophecy that ruined her life. Who turned the school and later forced Ron's jealousy to manifest at the worst time. Who gave Draco the idea to kill her beloved companion and friend.

It was Pitch who had ruined her entire life and made her into a spirit of dark vengeance. His magic had corrupted her and nearly turned her into one of his pawns. If Jack hadn't found her at that critical minute, she might very well be harming the children now.

Jack felt the dark rage in his friend rise and turn to pure ice. The construct of his attack on Pitch began to shake and he winced at the shriek it produced. Jackie touched the pillar of ice and darkness and it shattered like glass.

The snow and darkness didn't vanish, no it coalesced around Jackie like an angry storm. He could hear thunder above him, but he wasn't afraid. He knew Jackie would never harm him...her attention was solely on Pitch.

Pitch looked panicked, and fully unlocked her memories. Instead of crippling over in agonized pain, the storm grew larger and larger as blood trickled down her mouth from biting her lips so hard that they bleed.

"What..."

"It was you. You were the one who turned me into a monster! A freak!" she snarled.

Pitch hadn't anticipated this. He knew he should have captured her when she first became a spirit, now her heart had something to bolster even a little of the bad memories.

Her darkness struck against his own, but he was too aligned to the negative forces that came with the darkness. Her rage only increased his own powers.

His cold, mocking laughter echoed across the ice as he absorbed her attacks...and slowly her powers.

Pitch noticed Frost was too close to him, so like a viper he struck and grabbed the Winter spirit.

Jackie's attacks froze. She wouldn't dare harm Jack.

"Hand over your power over darkness...or I kill Frost," sneered Pitch.

"Fine. Just don't hurt him!"

The ice fell all around her as she released her powers over darkness. Pitch absorbed all her rage, hatred...every negative emotion she had for him.

Then he snapped Jack's staff, causing him to cry out in actual pain before he threw him into a nearby crevice.

"Jack!"

Pitch sneered, and unleashed the full brunt of her memories into her. The pain of a lost child, forgotten almost entirely by the Guardians who's sole purpose was to _protect_ the children, caused her mental defenses to rear up and try to block the memories.

Instead she reverted into her child form and was thrown bodily into a crevice separated by a wall of ice from Jack. Pitch caused an avalanche to cover her up and make it impossible for Frost to get her out in time.

Out of all the spirits, she was the most dangerous to him. It was through his power that she had become a spirit, and if she ever found a way to channel his dark powers without using emotions like rage or pain she could easily _absorb_ him.

He couldn't risk that. Not with his victory so close.

* * *

_The first ones to die from Evergreen's curse were the pure bloods. The only ones that were spared were those too young to have amplified her rage towards the magicals._

_McGonagall, new Headmistress of Hogwarts, sighed as she felt the continued anger towards them._

_After Dumbledore was killed through ice pillars, his body broken beyond repair by a sudden attack through ice, the Ministry had all but demanded she find Potter and stop this attack on their way of life. They were the next to be attacked. Ice had crept into the Ministry building and nearly killed everyone inside._

_It quickly became clear that the only ones who would be spared were those who didn't give a damn about the first generation/pure blood debate._

_Susan had cried in relief when she found out that her aunt had been in the Ministry when Evergreen's curse struck, and had been spared. The sharp ice spears had seemed to test her aunt, before it allowed her to pass unscathed. Most of the DMLE were spared, except for a few that were later revealed to be Death Eaters._

_Evergreen seemed to target them the most._

_How could she have failed her student so badly? James and Lily must be rolling in their graves right now for the fact that their beloved child had become something more feared than the Dark Lord._

_In the great hall she heard a first gen create the rhyme that would be used by magicals all over the world to describe her once student._

"_**One, two, Potter's coming for you..."**_


	5. Chapter 5

Jack felt every bone in his bone creak in pain. Damn that Pitch!

Strangely, he heard the sobs of a child. He wondered who in MiM could be here out in the arctic when there had only been him, Jackie and Pitch.

Then it hit him like a ton of snow.

Jackie. He had heard her cry out in pain before there was a loud sound of an avalanche very close to where he was.

It took Jack a few seconds to figure out what had happened.

Pitch must have overpowered Jackie with him out of the picture then all but buried her in an avalanche. However...Pitch didn't notice Jack had filched Jackie's teeth and swapped them for his own.

Jack placed a hand on the container...and was suddenly absorbed by Jackie...no, Evergreen Potter's memories.

* * *

_The little girl was crying. She had been thrown out by the mean woman and the doors were all locked. She didn't dare break a window, because she knew they would beat her even worse._

_It had happened once, and she didn't want to nearly die again._

_Suddenly there was a soft thump outside the dog house that had been there since before the man had bought the house. It was mostly used for Ripper, the dog that belong to the man's sister. It worked as a shield for the worst of the wind. She didn't mind the cold, but the wind was worse._

"_Hey there...you okay kiddo?" asked a voice._

_She peeked outside. There was a teen leaning against the dog house. He had hair as white as snow, playful teal eyes and a weird staff that looked like a Shepard's crook._

"_I can't get inside. And she'll hit me if I get in," she said._

"_Hmm...sounds to me like you need a distraction!" said the boy cheerfully._

_She looked curious, a good sign to the teen outside the tiny shelter._

_She let out a startled laugh as he took her flying, and suddenly the wind didn't seem so bad to her._

_For the next few days, the two of them played whenever she managed to get locked out. She felt sad when winter's chill was forced to retreat by Easter's spring._

_She found that she loved winter now, though she had been forced to forget when she turned ten. Suddenly her ability to see the boy had disappeared without warning, and she had wept because she had lost the only friend she had ever known in her short life. _

_The man had beat her black and blue when he found out she had an 'imaginary' friend who only showed up during the winter. He said a freak like her didn't deserve a friend before throwing her into the cupboard._

* * *

Jack gasped, tears running down his face.

Now he remembered why he had been so strongly attracted to Jackie when he found her in that glen. She had been the girl who had been able to see him!

His anger towards Pitch grew...somehow he had the feeling that jerk was responsible for him forgetting her like the Guardians, or perhaps his nature had touched briefly enough on what gave the Guardians the ability to fight Pitch Black long enough for whatever spell he used to erase Jack's memories of her.

Poor Jackie.

Jack put the teeth back into his pocket, and grabbed his staff, or what was left of it. He could figure out how to fix it later, she needed him more.

Jack concentrated on the ice that separated them. At first it wouldn't budge, but he was more than a mere ice apparition, he _was_ Winter's touch on the world, the spirit of the North wind that brought winter's chill to every country on Earth. Ice, snow and winter _was_ his domain.

Even North couldn't hope to hold a candle to his power over ice. Only Jackie.

Jack gasped as he phased through the icy sheet and into a recently made cave of snow, earth and rocks. Inside was a little girl with white hair and threadbare dress crying her eyes out. Jack solidified the roof above them, causing the room to light up a little from all the white.

He gently held Jackie...no, Evergreen, in his arms as she cried. He spoke comforting words to her, letting the love he felt for her come out of him and into her.

She had been denied such a simple emotion her entire life, barring her pet owl. When Hedwig had been murdered, her world fell apart at the seams.

Jack didn't notice it, but Evergreen's teeth were glowing from inside his sweater pocket. It took him a moment to realize that Evergreen had been growing at an accelerated rate back into the age he was so familiar with.

Suddenly his teal eyes meet emerald...and to his eternal shock she kissed him. Not a sisterly kiss, or on the cheek, but a full kiss on the mouth. Once the initial shock passed, Jack returned it with vigor.

All these years with Jackie, and they had never once acted on their teenage urges. They were confused, lost. Both had died far too young and turned into spirits before ever touching another outside of family, though Evergreen had been denied even that much.

So when both of their defenses were down and they realized that they did love each other more than as friends or even as brother and sister, those urges shot to the forefront.

Here, inside this dome of ice far from sight of the Man in the Moon or even Pitch, they finally acted their physical age.

Suddenly the teeth that Jack had stolen burst into a bright silver light and shot up through the ice. Jack and Evergreen looked at each other when they felt the rumble above them and once they were clothed they phased through the ice.

Getting above the crevice, Evergreen and Jack stared in absolute disbelief.

There was an ice castle where the battle between Jackie and Pitch had taken place. A rather nice one at that.

They landed and cautiously went inside.

Evergreen's eyes widened in shock when an ice phoenix, a being so rare and pure that it was even more sought out compared to a normal phoenix like Fawkes, flew from outside and to the outstretched fist of Evergreen.

_**Hail and well met, Evergreen, Queen of Winter's touch.**_

She looked at the phoenix in shock. She recognized this feeling.

"Hedwig?" she asked, her heart not daring to hope.

The phoenix trilled in an oh-so-fond manner and started to preen Evergreen's hair the way Hedwig used to.

"How is this possible?" asked Jack.

_**The Man in the Moon is not blind, nor is he a fool. When he realized what Pitch had done to the one magical capable of killing spirits if used correctly, he had my broken body absorb the Ice Maiden's Frozen Tears and turned me into a phoenix. When your heart finally filled with the love you were denied for so long, he allowed me to return.**_

"Filled with... On second thought, I don't need to know," said Evergreen with a massive blush.

"What did you mean Queen of Winter's Touch?" asked Jack, also blushing heavily.

_**Evergreen Potter, or Jackie Frost, is the new Queen of Winter. And you, Jack Frost, are her consort. Winter's King. Have you never wondered why your powers are stronger when you are with her?**_

Jack never thought to ask.

_**She is the darkness to your playful light. Pitch did his job too well, and now there is a perfect counter to his evil. So long as you have each other, you'll never be alone again.**_

Then, as an afterthought Hedwig added...

_**And since the Guardians missed you because of Pitch's work, the Man in the Moon has decided to create a neutral party so that this never happens again. The only one until now had been Sandman, and without him the balance is tipping too strongly in Pitch's favor.**_

"So basically we wouldn't be Guardians, but a fail safe in case Pitch tries to create a new player like he did with me."

"I think I like that option better," said Jack.

"We need to find the last child. If Pitch gets to him then it won't matter if the Guardians rescue him. He won't be able to see them," said Evergreen.

Jack nodded in agreement.

* * *

_Jack was in England, there to bring the last of winter's chill to the place before he moved to Russia for a while. He heard sobbing from a small remote glen that he occasionally saw unicorns eating out of, with Centaur bodyguards. After an attack on them a few years ago, they had been quite vigilant until the monster who killed them was finally brought to justice. Only Hagrid and that odd blond girl was allowed anywhere near them now, though the blond was an odd duck in his opinion._

"_You alright?" he asked. Why did he feel like he should remember her?_

_He saw the upturned earth, then looked at her._

"_Was it yours?" he asked gently._

_She nodded miserably and the shock of the fact she could hear him sent shivers of excitement into his body. And a few other sensations he had no idea what they were._

"_What happened?" he asked._

"_Murder," she whispered as a new sob racked her body. Jack immediately went to hold her. His job as the voice of the North Wind could wait...she needed him more. Besides the temperature was already dropping like a stone for some reason and he _knew_ that it wasn't his work. Too cold. Any child caught in this would die within seconds._

_To his eternal shock and joy, he was able to hold her in his arms without her going through like so many had before. She leaned in desperately into his much colder body, and he heard the Man in the Moon speak for the first time since his awakening._

_**Jackie.**_

_Was that her name? Either way he wasn't leaving her here._

_Once she had fallen asleep in his arms, he carefully maneuvered her body so that he could support her while he took to the skies. He needed to get her out of here...someone was coming and he had the feeling it wouldn't be a good thing if they found her like this._

_A newly created spirit (she took to the wind with ease, meaning she wasn't human anymore) was most vulnerable when their object of power or if they were really unlucky, their true name was used. Or, in Jackie's case, within the first twenty four hours of their first use of their natural abilities._

_She had just been turned, so if any magicals found her now they could kill or worse bind her. He memorized the glen, as that was where she had been reborn as a winter spirit._

_That spot would be the root of her power, should he have to bring her back._

_He had no idea that had he not shown up, Pitch Black, the ruler of darkness, would have taken her and turned her vengeance into a weapon against the Guardians._


End file.
